Kagerou Days
by Kuroda Aika
Summary: In this kind of clichéd story, there should only be one ending. But no matter what I do, everything always seems to start over. I guess this is what you could call a normal summer day.


**A/N: Kagerou Daze (or Kagerou Days/Heat-Haze Days/Heat-Haze Daze) is a beautiful song by Jin, so if you haven't heard it, I recommend it very much. Enjoy, constructive criticism is very welcome. Thank you.**

* * *

On August 15, my friend and I agreed to meet up at the park somewhere around 12:30 in the afternoon. As I walked, I looked at my phone and saw a message. She was already there, patiently waiting for me. I hurried, excited, not wanting to make her wait another minute. Once I got there, I saw her sitting on a swing with a black cat resting on her lap. She didn't seem to notice me.

"Hey," I said as I sat on the swing beside her. She smiled while petting the cute little animal. We sat in silence for a while, and then we started chatting, having nothing else to do. She said that her family was going on a vacation in a few days, so I wouldn't be seeing her until the first day back in school. _Well, looks like I'm gonna be staying at home for the rest of the summer now, since I have nothing better to do._

"Ugh, the heat is seriously killing me," I muttered as I looked up into the sky while shielding my eyes from the bright sun.

"Do you not like summer? I remember you saying you couldn't wait for it just before the school year ended," she laughed.

"Eh? No, no, I just wasn't expecting it to be _this_ hot."

She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she sat there, as if thinking on what to say next. Her eyes were on the cat that was purring softly. As I watched her carefully, I noticed her smile slowly fading, turning into a frown. Had I said something that bothered her?

"I… I kinda hate summer, actually," she murmured while gently stroking the cat's smooth-looking fur.

Just as I was about to ask why, to find out the meaning behind her words, her cat sprang up and jumped to the ground, running to the busy streets. She followed behind, trying to catch it. "Neko-chan, come back!" she yelled, but the cat didn't stop. I just sat there, expecting her to give up and walk back to sit down again.

But she didn't.

I noticed the huge truck that was just a few inches away from her only at the last minute. I bolted up and ran while shouting at her before it was too late, but she couldn't hear me. In less than a second, her scream echoed through my ears, and I just stood there as the truck hit and crushed her small frame. I froze. It didn't seem possible, but somehow, her blood had splattered almost everywhere. A mail box, traffic light, the truck's front, a sign—even my pants—all were covered in a deep shade of red. A small amount of it had made its way to my face.

Not too far from her was the black bracelet she always wore, broken into two. Her fragrance immediately mixed with the blood as she lay there, dying. The scent choked me, and I slowly felt like collapsing. All passersby gathered around her, many calling for an ambulance, even though they knew that she would be dead any second now. There were even those who had the nerve to take pictures. I stayed on my spot, not knowing what to do, or how to react.

_This… this isn't real._ I heard sirens wailing from afar. _It's all… just… a screwed up dream I'm having… right? _"No… it's not true. This can't be happening!" I said out loud, but no one noticed. My vision became fuzzy, and I felt like I was about to faint, both from the shock and heat. Just before I fell to the hard, hot ground, I could've sworn I saw someone across the street. He looked exactly like me, except, he was wearing red from head to toe. And he was smiling at me. His voice rang through my head as he said with a smug look on his face, "This is all real!"

And with that, the day faded.

* * *

I woke up in cold sweat to the sound of the ticking clock. At first I didn't move, and I kept my eyes on the plain ceiling. It had all been a dream. No, a _nightmare_. Why I got it in the first place, I didn't know. It all seemed so real, but it just couldn't be. I sat up, phone in hand, and checked what time it was, even though I'd seen the wall clock.

_**14/8**_  
_**12:17**_

It was the 14th of August, sometime past twelve in the afternoon. Then I remembered that I was supposed to meet her at the park. I got up quickly, grabbed my jacket and hurried out the door. Even though my house was quite near our meeting place, I had to see her. _What's this horrible feeling I'm getting? Geez, I'm probably just being paranoid... _I quickly got there and ran to the swings. There she was, with that cat again. I pushed the thought out of my head, not wanting to ruin the day just because of a stupid nightmare I had. "Where'd you get the cat?" I asked, instead of giving a casual "hey" or "hi". "I found it sitting on this swing. It's cute, don't you think?" I nodded, not really paying attention.

Again with the silence. I didn't know what to say. It was sometimes a bit hard to talk to her. Maybe I could tell her about the dream I had? I heard that if you told someone about it, it would go away. I took a deep breath and looked at the grass. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to bring a jacket, especially during the summer, because the heat was killing me. My phone felt warm as I clutched it. "Are you okay?" I nodded again, still not looking at her, but I knew she was eying me carefully. _Now or never._

"But, y'know, it's a little strange," I started slowly. She stayed silent, wanting me to continue. "yesterday, in a dream, I saw us walking in this exact same park."

She bit her lip. "You did?"

"Yeah. Um, you actually died in the dream... there was a whole lot of blood too. I know it's weird, but I've been getting this bad feeling ever since I woke up." I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you won't dream about it again. Let's forget about it and enjoy the day," her voice said, reassuring me- only a little. I sensed a hint of sadness in it, but I didn't pay much attention. She was always kind to everyone. I somehow felt lucky to be one of the people she was sincerely kind to, and I was happy and grateful to have a friend like her. Too bad, though, I heard she liked someone else.

All of a sudden, the black cat leaped off her lap, running to the streets.

She got up and tried to run after it. This was... it was all just like in the dream! _W-what?! No, I can't just let her...! _I grabbed her wrist before she could go any further. What was going on? Was that dream some kind of message? _Then... maybe it wasn't so bad. It pretty much just saved her life. _She looked at me curiously, as if she was waiting for an explanation. Behind her, on the streets, I saw a familiar-looking truck pass by. It had 'JIN' written on the front. I'd recognize it anywhere.

It was the one that was supposed to take her life just a few seconds ago.

I began to feel a little sick. It was all too weird. I mentally asked myself for the millionth time, "Just what the hell is going on?" I looked back at her confused face. A small breeze of wind blew, and I said to her, "Let's go home for now." She seemed to hesitate, but reluctantly agreed. We walked the other way and crossed the street. The whole time I was thinking: _What if it hadn't been a dream? _No matter how impossible it seemed, I felt convinced. Was I given a second chance? _The heat must be really getting into me... speaking of the heat-_

I should have payed more attention to where we were. I'd been so engulfed in my own thoughts that I didn't notice the people around us screaming and pointing to the sky. There were warnings too, but we kept on walking anyway. Had I actually paused for a while to listen to what that girl with long, teal twin-tails and her friend with the blue hair had been screaming, all of this might have been avoidable. I was so stupid. I felt her brush past me at lightning speed, a few steps in front of me. Before I could ask her what she was doing, a saw a thin shadow on the ground.

In less than a second, people everywhere were screaming, some running away from the horrid, unusual scene. There she was, letting out a yelp of pain. An iron pole had fallen from the sky and pierced right through her body like she was nothing. My eyes widened as I just stood there as she fell to the ground. What the hell was I supposed to do? I could've run, I could've screamed, I could've done anything, but the fact that one of the only friends I had just died right in front of me made me freeze all over, and I felt my blood run cold. I could only stare as more people gathered to watch. Very few even bothered to dial 911 or something. My phone had already run out of battery, and I felt so helpless. Then I did the only thing I could think of- I shouted her name. "No! No, no, no, this isn't happening! Tell me this isn't real!" I yelled. I ran to her and held her in my arms.

Except I didn't.

As I was reaching out for her, I was pulled back by a strong force. My eyes widened in shock, and I saw it, or rather, _him_. Dressed in blood-red all over, the haze of the heat looked at me, and smiled a mocking smile. He grabbed my arm and pushed me back. It seemed that I was the only one who could see him. "Th-this is all a lie," was all I could manage to say, or _choke_, rather. "you're... you're lying! Yeah, that's right! This is a stupid and sick joke, and you're lying, aren't you?! This isn't real!" I shouted as my voice cracked. But he only laughed, "This is all real!"

I could've sworn I saw her smiling before everything turned black.

* * *

The moment I saw her in the same park, I grabbed her hand, not giving a damn about her protests and questions. We just ran. I took her to an old building. We stayed on the fifth floor balcony to enjoy the view. Even so, I felt really bad, and all my fears and suspicions were confirmed when I saw the heat haze leaning close by, hands in his pockets as usual. **"This building is quite old, you know..."** He took one glance at me I turned around and saw her leaning against the wooden balcony too, but before we could say anything else, the wood gave away to her weight and broke. She screamed as she fell down to her death. She lay there in a pool of blood, and I choked at the sight.

The next day, someone had carelessly thrown scissors at her direction.

The day after that, she got hit by another vehicle.

When I decided to not go to the park at all, I got the news that she took some pills and died.

She hung herself another time too.

I remember taking her home safely, but in the evening, my parents told me her house went on fire.

We went to my house to spend time there, but she slipped off the stairs and broke her spine.

A few days later, someone had strangled her to death.

Oh, she also stabbed herself with her kitchen knife and bled to death.

There were a lot more times she died, but it would take me a whole day to list them all down. It took me a long time to realize and believe what was happening. _We were in a time loop._ Everything repeated itself, and no matter what I did, she'd always die in the end, and if it wasn't suicide, I'd be there to see it. I was more than used to this, even though I tried to prevent it. This had been going on for quite a while now. I don't know exactly how long. Maybe months, or years, or even decades.

Let me tell you this, I was _sick_ of it. Nobody would actually know how it felt to see the person you loved die painful deaths right in front of you millions of times. I hated how the heat would laugh at me all the time, mocking me, telling me that all that was happening was _real_. I don't know how I managed to put up with all the trauma throughout all this time, but I've decided to end it. In this kind of clichéd story, there should only be one ending.

So today, when she tried to pursue that cursed cat, I pushed her aside, away from all the danger the street had to offer. I looked at her in the eyes and smiled, thinking it was going to be the last time I saw her. I didn't care. As long as she was happy, I'd be happy too. She looked at me with a frightened and shocked face, eyes wide. I started recollecting some happy moments we had. Then my mind flashed to that day I first met her.

_"What are you doing out here, all alone in the cold snow?" I asked, approaching the girl._

_"Nothing much... I just thought I'd enjoy the winter."_

_I stood in front of the girl who was sitting on the snow-covered bench. She had been smiling and humming to herself. I recognized her since we were in the same class. She was always quiet, and had good grades. Those were the only things I knew about her. But ever since that day she became my seatmate, I'd become more interested in her. She wasn't like those girls who only lived to gossip, text, giggle about boys or anything stupid. She was different. And she was special in my eyes. She was one of a kind.  
_

_"I hate winter," I said bluntly._

_I didn't realize I'd been standing there, staring at her for a while. She broke the silence by throwing a small snowball at my face, startling me. In a few seconds, we were already covered in melting snow thanks to a snowball fight. It was a nice feeling... we ran, smiled and laughed, even though I tried not to. It seemed as if only she could really bring my happy self out of me. Since then we started hanging out more. _

_We became friends, and I started loving winter instead of complaining about the freezing temperature._

I closed my eyes, not letting a tear fall out, and I felt something hard slam onto me. I fell to the burning ground, knowing fully well that I was going to die in a few seconds. My blood was everywhere. But I smiled. I almost laughed, but the pain from the impact was also hurting me. I just stayed there, motionless, as I heard screams and a crowd forming around me. I saw her as tears started to roll down her cheeks. _No, no... don't cry. Be happy for me because now I know you're safe. Please... I'm sorry, just stop crying._ But I continued to smile. The haze was surely nearby. And he was probably laughing his head off.

_Are you happy now? Satisfied? Go, laugh, mock me. Tell me that this is all real and that I'm going to finally die. I'll be out of your 'life', if you even have one. Just leave her alone now, since I'm gone, since you got what you wanted._

Then I saw him beside her. He looked at me. I was waiting for him to say something like, "Serves you right!", then I wouldn't care, because that would be what you called _a very normal summer day_. Ah, but he didn't. Instead, I saw him as tears started flowing from his eyes too. That only confused me, and it didn't seem to make sense. There was this 'person' who seemed like he enjoyed the sight of people dying. Here I was, the one he'd been mocking for years, dying, expecting him to make fun of me more. But no, he cried.

Before my vision darkened, I saw a haze appearing behind her. This haze was much different. 'She' looked like 'his' counterpart, and was wearing blue. I could only guess... winter? 'She' looked at me with emotionless eyes. I noticed 'she' looked exactly like her, except for her colors. I couldn't think anymore because I was forced to close my heavy eyelids, and I fell into one of the deepest sleeps I had ever had. All of this madness ended today.

* * *

On August 14, a girl woke up on her bed, crying silently. All she said to herself was, "I failed this time too..." as she cradled a white cat in her arms. The winter haze appeared before her with a cruel smile on her face. Another normal day of summer was about to begin.

* * *

**A/N: W-wow! I finished this in one day! I'm sorry if it's too detailed or just simply sucks. Please tell me if there are any mistakes here, especially grammar mistakes! Thank you for reading. **


End file.
